Guardsman's Duty
by minormaterial
Summary: It is a Temple Guardsman's duty to see to the defense of the Jedi Temple until the very end. A lone guardsman awakens to a world to which the likes he's never seen before. As he grows to adapt to this new world, he struggles with his duty to the temple. How will he learn to apply this duty to the new world around him, and is a guardsman's duty truly only finished in death?


The Temple Guardsman let out a sigh that he didn't even know that he was holding in. Clad in formal white robes and a white mask, bearing a golden pattern and horizontal eye slits, the guardsman observed the chaos raging around him. Stray blaster fire patterned the monuments decorating the entrance to the temple, desecrating once great figures.

The temple was under attack, assailed by clone troopers that acted moreso like their droid counterparts during the war. Contemplation took the guardsman, was this a form of mind control? Perhaps not, no Jedi or Sith to his knowledge, had the power to control legions upon legions of clone troopers. However, it was very evident that these clones were not themselves, as the guardsman witnessed a Jedi apprentice and her master fall to the wall of blaster fire that engulfed them.

Being one of the many temple guards ordered to defend the interior, he took his place behind a pillar as the outside was deemed lost, there being too many clones to defend against and too little advantage to bringing the defense out in the open. He could hear the blaster fire outside slowly die down, as the clones reorganized themselves for entry and extermination into the temple. This battle was one that they would not win, most likely. It was not his job to stand by idly as his livelihood was destroyed around him, though.

Gripping his lightsaber pike, he composed himself as he prepared himself for battle, something he had not engaged in for quite some time, if you didn't count the spars that he frequently engaged in with fellow guardsmen and training on bots that were programmed to hold back. Blankness slowly took his mind, synchronized stomping of plastoid boots being muffled as pure focus overtook the guardsman.

The marching stopped, soon replaced with the radio chatter of clone troopers organizing and scouting out into the large precinct. An eruption of blaster fire overtook the chatter of radios as the sound of a lightsaber rung out, followed suit by many other activations. Yells echoed out as the clone troopers were pushed back, temple guardsmen and Jedi alike leaping or running into the fray.

Now was the time, activating his lightsaber pike, two distinct yellow blades of plasma sprouted from the handle. Looking to the left, he could see a squad of about 24 troopers attempting to bypass the battle from the side, presumably to execute more Jedi. The guardsman could not let that happen. Dashing from the pillar where he was previously stationed with a burst of speed amplified by the force, the group of troopers soon noticed and immediately opened fire.

The guardsman came to a halt, stopping dead in his tracks as he dodged to the side, the opening blaster fire going wide. Their sergeant, denoted by olive green markings on his armor, yelled out for the squad to spread out, a basic tactic, albeit effective against the inexperienced. The guardsman, however, was no poser.

Unlike the previous wall of fire that the troopers started off with, they all fired at their own pace, allowing the deflection and reflection of individual blaster bolts. That is exactly what the guardsman did, knocking aside some bolts and throwing some back at various troopers that got too close. He could not be on the defensive forever though, noting that more and more troopers decided to enroach.

An exploitable weakness in a Jedi or Sith's defense would be close quarters with blaster fire, a tactic utilized by enemy and ally alike as neither could react fast enough to block a blaster that was essentially next to their head. It's how many newly promoted Jedi Knights fell in battle, sometimes to arrogance, sometimes to inaction.

The guardsman would not fall as easily as that, though. The designation of being a Jedi Temple Guard was an honor held in high regard, although sometimes ridiculed for being "glorified mall cops", whatever that meant. Despite such remarks though, the temple guard were composed of Jedi Knights who demonstrated great skill and resolve, so that they would not easily convert to the dark side. While their skills may have dulled over the years, frequent training sessions would always keep them vigilant.

A trooper that ran too close was deftly struck down, a hot burn mark left across his shoulder down to his chest. Another attempted to jump back in the wake of his friend's fall, only to receive a light strike across the helmet, causing molten plastoid to melt into his face. Pain laced screams echoed out from the trooper as he fell to the floor clutching his face, causing those around him to visibly shrink back in shock before resuming their previous demeanor.

The guardsman would constantly shift between being on the defensive and offensive to throw off the troopers as they slowly adapted to one before having to deal with the other. If the troopers were replaced with ARC ones, then it would be considerably harder for the guardsman, albeit not impossible if done correctly.

A process was established, the guardsman sometimes deviating by laying into the dwindling amount of troopers or putting extra focus into accurately reflecting oncoming blaster bolts back into the troopers that dealt them. One trooper would be impaled through the chestplate with the bottom blade after one fell infront of him with vertical slash, these actions had to be performed quickly though, in order to deflect blaster fire from troopers that saw an opening.

Battle, to the guardsman, was not something he enjoyed for the most part. Killing fellow beings did not sit well with him and attempted to apprehend dangerous individuals in the temple instead of outright trying to kill them. Though, there was something different about this battle, the situation. One padawan followed close to their master despite orders not to follow, being thrown back with the force as the master engaged the oncoming torrent of troopers.

He was fighting for the Jedi temple, for the people in the temple, for the galaxy. While relationships were prohibited, the guardsman couldn't help but grow to like those around him, his fellow guardsmen, the Jedi that visited and attempted to engage in conversation with him. He, of course, couldn't show any signs of emotion, but through subtle actions he let the Jedi and people he worked with know that they weren't talking to a Phrik wall.

That was what made up the guardsman, his core. The motivation and willpower to defend those around him and the people that didn't deserve to be in such dangerous situations. A renewed vigor stilled within the guardsman, replacing his former focus with controlled energy. His body grew numb to physical feeling, but he still moved just as well, if not faster.

The remaining troopers gathered around the sergeant upon order, opening up to reveal a heavy trooper perched on the floor, bearing a PLX-1 Portable Missile Launcher. Time seemed to slow down for the guardsman, as his hand holding his lightsaber pike unconsciously knocked aside suppressing fire.

He raised his left hand to the heavy trooper, feeling the force take ahold of the launcher as it was moved downwards to the floor, right when the sergeant motioned out an order to fire. The troopers closest to him noticed the movement, infact the heavy trooper attempted to fight the sudden change in the direction he was aiming, to no avail.

An explosion rang out behind the sergeant as he was flung forwards to the left of the guardsman, as the troopers around him were either killed immediately or thrown away, shock waves and burn marks evidencing death or grievous injury.

A breath of held in air was yet again let out from the guardsman, energy not yet faded but noticeably dented. The battle was not finished though, as the sergeant leading the clones attempted to get up, only to fall back down due to broken limbs from how hard the explosion hit him. The guardsman felt nothing as he walked towards the shattered sergeant, holding the bottom blade of his pike to the sergeant's head.

He felt something, however, when he was about to strike down the sergeant. The sergeant was holding an activated thermal detonator as he rolled over to extend his life by only a few seconds, enough to let the guardsman leap back with a jump amplified by the force, but not long enough to completely get the guardsman away from the explosion.

The explosion was bright enough to cause the guardsman to shield his eyes, being thrown back and knocking the remaining focus and energy out of the guardsman. While he was far away enough from the actual explosion, the blast threw him straight into a pillar.

Impacting with the pillar instilled an unresistable urge to fall unconscious in the guardsman as his lightsaber pike deactivated, held tightly in his hand but slowly numbing pain being present in his free arm. He took in his surroundings one last time, the troopers slowly making ground as his allies fell one by one.

"-ord Vader, the entry precinct has been cleared of all resistance. Sector is clear."

The muffled sound of a trooper speaking awoke the formerly unconscious guardsman. His senses returned fairly quick as he gripped his weapon, listening in on the trooper talk as he observed his surroundings once again.

He attempted to feel his left arm, receiving a sharp tang of pain in return. It must've broken upon impact with the pillar. If left long enough, it would heal, but the guardsman could not focus on his arm for the time being, watching the area around him.

The corpse of a Jedi Knight was to his side, fear evident in his last moments before a swift impalement through the chest ended him. This confused the guardsman, were there Sith accompanying the troopers entrance into the temple? No, they would've been seen immediately and the telltale sounds of lightsabers clashing would be heard. They may have came in at a later time, then.

Of course, the question soon came to the guardsman. Who was this Lord Vader, a new Sith lord? The thought crossed his mind, was he the one that eliminated so many of those around him? It would not be an impossible feat, but very unlikely for such an unheard of Sith lord, who must be newly appointed. His string of questions came to a halt as a pair of troopers stepped infront of him.

"What about this one, sir?"

"Retrieve the lightsaber, they are to be destroyed via orders from Lord Vader."

"Affirmative, sir."

The guardsman tensed, but it was not notable to the approaching trooper. It was not evident that he was dead, apart from his position on the pillar, the trooper would quickly notice that he was not dead if allowed to make any further movements. A mix of focus and energy welled up in the guardsman once more, tensing his weapon hand before making his move.

His arm was not fully healed yet, so the guardsman was limited to one hand for now. As the trooper reached out to grab the lightsaber pike from the guardsman, he had no time to react as he was deftly impaled and tossed aside, the officer scrambling to aim at the guardsman before the barrel of his blaster was cut off, him following in a similar manner.

"Not clear... not... clear..." As the clone officer clutched at his wound, his last dying words somehow left a sense of humor in the guardsman, for unknown reasons. Strange, but now was not the time to ponder inside jokes.

His actions did not go unnoticed, however, as the troopers that now littered the precinct alerted each other and their commanding officers to his position. It became clearly evident from the start that the guardsman would not win this fight, even if his arm was healed. It was not the Jedi way to give up and beg for mercy, as he held out his pike in front of him, left arm tucked behind his back.

Before engaging his death sentence, the guardsman caught sight of the Padawan and her master from before, on their knees with their hands held together by stun-cuffs. A squad of troopers about to open fire on them were caught off guard by the reawakening of the guardsman. He decided that his last act would be to save the pair by escorting them to a nearby vehicle, before his unavoidable death.

There was no escape, as he was a sworn guardsman, to die for the temple was his job, by extension, the people who inhabited and visited it, and he had no indication of fleeing. He dashed towards the firing squad, cutting all but one apart as he reflected the blaster bolt that the remaining trooper got off into the trooper's upper body, leaving a red hot hole in the armor as he fell. Two lightsabers fell from the trooper's belt as he hit the floor, him presumably being the one supposed to destroy them.

Without hesitation, he cut apart the stun-cuffs restricting the two as he flipped over them, allowing them to retrieve their lightsabers from the floor before they turned to him, restored vigor evident in their eyes.

"Thank you, guardsman." The master was a young man, in his twenties. Drained blonde hair and calming blue eyes, it was hard to believe this man was the type to fight. Despite such traits, he helped in deflecting the blaster bolts that assailed the trio as he noticed the guardsman's limp arm.

The guardsman turned around to face the approaching troopers that heard the commotion, knocking aside as many blaster bolts as he could with his good hand. "It is my duty, you and your padawan must escape from this place. I will escort you to the upper level, where you should be able to find a vehicle to leave."

"B-but mister! Your arm is hurt you should come with us!" The guardsman spared a quick glance at the shrill but worried voice, noting it to be coming from a small Twi-Lek girl, who seemed to be more focused on the guardsman than deflecting blaster bolts that came her way, her master instead watching over her closely.

"I'm afraid not, little one. It is my duty to protect this sacred place until the very end. You, however, are different. I implore you and your master to escape this place, for I cannot."

The guardsman could feel the young padawan grow saddened, and for a second, felt bad about his choice of words before he decided to start escorting the two. The master picked up upon this quickly and motioned for his padawan to follow.

The amount of blaster fire increased as they got further and further to the stairwell, and any trooper that was unfortunate enough to get in their way were quickly eliminated. The guardsman tired, and so did the master and his padawan, they were still far from the stairwell, and wouldn't be able to make it with more and more troopers blockading their objective.

He shook his head, the guardsman would not let his actions be in vain. Reserves of energy and focus that he didn' even know that he had, opened. Power flowed to his hands as he lifted both the padawan and her master with the force, the two being caught off guard,

"What are you… wait, don't!"

"Sir? What are you-whooaaa!"

… and about to question the guardsman before being thrown above the troopers blocking their way towards the stairwell, the two landing on a wall before sliding down.

The guardsman slowed, not drained of his power but fulfilled of his goal as he turned to the approaching troopers with his saber held out horizontally, adopting a pose meant to make the best out of his condition while including Form III, Soresu. His task was done, and he found himself unconsciously cracking a small smile under his mask before returning to reflect blaster fire from the now approaching troopers.

He spared the two that he had launched towards the stairwell one more glance, the padawan staring at him with saddened eyes as she realized the purpose of the guardsman's actions, before her hand was quickly taken by the master who had regret evident on his face, as the two both ran up the stairs to the upper level.

The guardsman refused to falter, instead using his newly gained resolve to fuel his defense against the troopers. Eventually, when they got close, the guardsman struck out with all that he had. Almost a blur to the unsuspecting troopers, he rendered apart troopers by the pair before moving on to the next. He put less focus on deflecting blaster fire and instead into striking sure and fast.

There is an end to all things, though, soon the guardsman cut apart a 50 man platoon of troopers, and 100 took their place. His energy faltered, his focus following suit. A blaster bolt grazed his lower body, pain dampening his abilities next to his healing arm. Perhaps, if it was healed, he would've been able to fight for a longer time, though he had no time to ponder his thoughts and reactions as he slowly faltered.

Another blaster bolt hit him, although this time it was directly to his inner thigh. He grunted, having learned to hold in his emotions and outbursts. He could fight no longer, though. His lightsaber pike deactivated as he holstered it to his hip, before collapsing to one knee. The troopers took this time to get close, surrounding the temple guardsman as he observed.

Their commanding officer did not wait for a second as soon as they trapped him, a heavy trooper right next to him taking position, troopers with Gatling blasters, carbines and rifles alike. It did not matter to the guardsman. He was not going to accept death just yet, though, as he held his hand out the moment the heavy trooper let loose of the rocket, moving the rocket midair so it flew over the guardsman's head into the troopers behind him.

Blaster fire, though, soon connected with the guardsman as they had been fired alongside the rocket. Scorching hot pain replaced by numbness took the guardsman as his vision faltered. His last blurred visions being of the troopers recovering from the shock of the rocket and surrounding him one last time to check if he was truly dead.

It mattered not to the guardsman, he had done his duty. Perhaps the force would accept him as a mere remnant of the past, as he knew he didn't compare to those who fought valiantly before him. Another small smile broke through the guardsman's defenses, this time staying on his face as he felt his life force drain.

Feeling took the guardsman's body, surprising him. He could hear the faint chirping of some sort of bird around him. Pulling at the ground he laid on, he opened his eyes to find a blade of lush green grass. He was in some kind of forest, the first one he's ever been in for quite some time. Was he hallucinating? No, he died on Coruscant alongside his fellow temple guards.

He could feel every part of his body though, feeling for his lightsaber pike he was relieved to find it still on his hip. He analyzed himself. There were no scorch or blaster marks, however his arm felt the same from before. This was no hallucination, he was alive and well, but where? Was he subjected to some kind of purgatory, destined to live out his days in an empty forest?

Sitting up, the guardsman exhaled from his nose as numbed pain came from the motion to his left arm. He looked to his surroundings, finding a few things of note. A town, bustling with activity, a farm to the side, fairly large with animals, and what was most important to the guardsman, was the fact that the buildings were not futuristic like the ones on Coruscant, instead made of wood and other materials that had fallen out of use during his time.

Caravans on wooden wheels were headed by large creatures unfamiliar to the guardsman. Confusion tore into him as he stood up. Perhaps he awoke on some sort of planet that had not yet even reached basic levels of technology like electricity, due to the oil lamps dotting the road leading into the town. Whatever his predicament was, and where he was, the guardsman would have to get answers in the town, as there was no use pondering in a forest for any extended period of time.

Checking himself once more, the guardsman felt relief in the handle of the weapon close by his side. He let out a sigh as he held his hand out to a nearby tree branch, which was larger than the guardsman himself, successfully lifting it without any strain. At least the force was still with him along with his lightsaber pike. Looking forward, he set off with a wariness that didn't seem to leave him as he stepped out onto the open dirt path, making him look around once more before taking his first step in this new world.

* * *

To say that he was surprised was an understatement. As the guardsman walked along the dirt road he took in what he saw. Everything was so… underdeveloped, for a lack of a better term. The floor he walked upon was not similar to the Ferrocrete he once stood on back at Coruscant, instead sufficed with packed dirt that bore the marks of many footprints, meaning that this town was fairly high traffic. He'd have to see why.

Approaching the town, he was yet again surprised. Stopping outside the center, he could see that there were many individuals that possessed armor and weapons. Now, the guardsman had no problem with self defense and the appliances needed for such a task. The aspect that confused him the most was the fact that there were no weapons from where he came from.

Vibroblades were a popular weapon among the criminals in Coruscant if they couldn't obtain a cheap blaster from off the black market. Ultrasonic vibrations within the blade handle or hilt were channeled into the actual blade itself, giving off a trademark hum that was very recognizable. Even a glancing blow could turn into a gaping hole, and some people went as far to even introduce cortosis weave to such destructive weapons.

Instead, there were an assortment of weapons which in design were similar to the many vibro weapon designs he had seen over the years, but clearly didn't possess the blocky handle or hilt to hold the mechanisms required. The guardsman was familiar with these sorts of weapons, one of the most basic forms of weaponry, simply crafting a weapon out of metal and sharpening the blade for increased deadliness.

Such weapons didn't compare to even basic civilian defense gear on many civilized planets, but the guardsman could see the appeal in keeping a weapon well maintained and clean, similar to his, although it didn't require sharpening, of course. The armor that some of the inhabitants wore were the same deal, for the most part. Some sort of metal was hammered to form a chestplate or a helmet, but others forgoed such implements for a lighter carry of thick leather.

There were no blasters, replaced with bows and arrows which were composed of arrowheads sharpened to a fine point and bows customized to their user. A primitive form of ranged weaponry, if not effective. Anyone that would say a bow and arrow to be useless would surely have second thoughts if faced with an Ewok tribe. The tried and true design even made it's way into the hands of innovative engineers on many planets who modified the make of the weapon, strong plasma replacing thin strings, etcetera.

Realizing that he may look a bit out of place, he took extra care to keep an eye on his weapon. Thievery probably occurred frequently in a setting like this, and the guardsman had no intention on letting such an advanced weapon, atleast compared to everything he's seen so far, get in the hands of the inexperienced or conniving.

Being a practitioner of Altus sopor, the umbrella branch of force techniques that involved increasing a user's focus on using the force, he kept his senses alert for any possible dangers, while observing his surroundings for anything of note. The guardsman pushed aside the thought of perhaps cloaking himself with the force, while it was something that he could do, he doubted that he would attract much attention, despite his garb and strange armament.

After some searching, a certain building caught his attention out of many others. A sign hung from the front, the words "ADVENTURER'S GUILD" plastered in large bold letters above the entrance. Realization came to the guardsman quickly, the people that carried the weapons and armor that he had seen before were not just paranoid civilians, infact actually just being adventurers of this land.

That did not answer the question that then popped up, what was the purpose of this building? He watched a group of adventurers, merry with enjoyment as they walked out with small bags. They were young, too young for the guardsman's liking. He always saw something wrong in training children taken from their family in the art of fighting with highly dangerous weapons, trying to discourage padawans that got too invested in sparring duels from enjoying fighting too much.

These adventurers were apparently not privy to the idea of personal space as they tightly embraced each other with smiles and hearty laughs, shaking around brown bags that emitted clinking sounds from within. Some sort of currency, perhaps? Credit chips probably did not exist in a place like this. The guardsman was not ignorant to social norms though, and realized that standing outside of such a place for too long would garner him unwanted attention.

Moving for the door, he quickly stepped aside for another group of adventurers to pass by, them thankfully ignoring the white clad figure as he stepped in. He stayed to the side as he made his way near the counter, where a young girl clad in religious garb and holding a staff was talking to another girl behind the counter.

Eyeing the notice board, he couldn't help but notice that the papers offered monetary rewards for those who exterminated what could only be assumed to be dangerous creatures that ran amok. However, the guardsman was confused. None of the creatures on the board rung a bell to him, though he could both understand and worry about the prospect of a giant rat. Goblins and manticores only served to confuse him more, though.

"-his will act as your ID in the guild." Having previously blocked out the two people talking at the counter, he then focused his attention on them, putting up the farce that he was looking for a quest while instead listening in on what they were saying.

"There are ten ranks of adventurers, platinum being the highest rank." This clarified some things for the guardsman, apparently this was some kind of gathering place for those who lived lives of adventure and completed quests to exterminate dangerous beings, similar to bounty hunters. The thought of young men and women going out to adventure in such a dangerous world only served to unnerve him, although he was sure that most of them could handle themselves.

"The next rank would be gold, although you mostly see silvers out in the field. Your identification tag shows that your rank is porcelain, which is the lowest rank for an adventurer." The priestess stared in contemplation at the ID tag.

"...That would mean that I'm a beginner?"

"Indeed, it would also help identify you if anything were to happen to you. Make sure not to lose it."

"Of course, ma'am." A determined look sprung from the priestess's eyes.

"And your registration ends there." The guild girl motioned towards the notice board that was currently being blocked by the guardsman, him subconsciously stepping aside upon mention while still keeping up his guise of a pondering adventurer. Another thought entered his mind, the woman behind the counter has most likely interacted with all of the people here, him being an outlier. If he attracted her attention, he wasn't sure how he would be able to handle the situation. His thoughts were moved aside as he looked to the left slightly, seeing a new group of young adventurers walk up to the young priestess.

The warrior slid up to the porcelain ranked priestess as she moved to take a look at the quest board, eliciting a confused "Huh?" from the girl as she turned to him.

"You're a priestess, right?"

The priestess took a look at the two girls that followed behind the warrior, one clearly being a mage due to her choice of clothing, and the other perhaps being a fighter, because of her lacking weaponry.

Not even waiting for the priestess to respond, the warrior continued, "My party's missing a priest, but we've got an important quest to do. We're looking for at least one more person, and you seem to fit the bill perfectly!"

"An important quest?"

The warrior turned to the window, cocky smile and determined look on his face, "We're going to go slay some goblins." The Guild girl behind the counter reacted with a slightly surprised reaction, opening her mouth a bit and straightening her back.

"Goblins?"

The warrior turned back to the priestess, "Mhm, they attacked a village. Stole livestock and supplies. They even kidnapped some girls!"

Turning his head to the Guild girl, he continued, "We need to hurry up so we can save them."

"Uhm, you're all porcelain ranked, correct? I think if you wait a while, other adventurers will be able to take care of it instead." Attention in the group turned to the Guild girl, who was trying to convince them to not go on such an adventure, but only the guardsman noticed such an attempt.

"Nah, with the four of us, we shouldn't have any trouble with goblins. Right?" The warrior was sadly oblivious to her attempts. The two other girls in his group looked at the priestess, demeanors clearly differing.

"Come with us!" A determined smile was evident on her face, despite her lack of weaponry.

"Make up your mind already." The guardsman couldn't determine the girl's designation, although she probably worked in a similar manner to the priestess due to them sharing the trait of having staffs, colored crystals attached to the tops.

Thinking for a bit, the priestess turned to them with a new resolve, "Okay, if you believe that I can help you, I will."

The warrior held up his fist, "Alright! Now we can finally go on an adventure!"

"Yeah, it's great to have you!"

Welcome aboard!"

"Now slaying goblins will be a breeze!"

A worried look was evident on the guild girl's face, the priestess being the only one to notice as she eyed her. The guardsman felt her feelings via the force, and could only assume that this was a quest that they would not be able to handle.

"Well, if things get hairy, I'll be sure to take care of it!"

"Come on guys, the earlier we get there the faster we can save the girls!"

"Ohoho, someone's interested~"

"S-shut up! Let's get going!"

With such party cohesion, the guardsman couldn't help but think of his life prior to becoming a guardsman.

" _Hey, hey!" He turned to the source of the voice, finding it to be coming from a small girl. A few other children followed behind her, newly constructed lightsabers visible on their hips as they each eyed the boy infront of them._

 _A sense of recognition hit the guardsman as he stared at the boy sitting on the sidelines of the training grounds. There was a purple bruise on his face, and he held his face trying to heal it with the force, to no avail._

 _Looking to the side, the boy took a second to realize that she was talking to him, "Do you need someth-"_

" _Wanna play force hide and seek with us? It's a new game we made up by ourselves. One person is the seeker and they're allowed to use the force to find the hiders! We tested it, it's so much fun, come on, you should try it!"_

" _I'm not so sure..." The boy cradled his face as he avoided their gazes. On the contrary, that only made them want to get him to join even more._

" _A little fun never hurts, yes?" A fairly tall twi-lek boy smiled at him, some sort of accent present in his voice, although hard to place._

" _You seemed lonely." Blunt, but true. It came from a very straight laced girl, back upright as she had an aura of elegance around her._

" _Oh, don't be such an… uhm..." The girl struggled to find the correct words to finish._

 _The elegant girl raised an eyebrow, "Introvert?"_

 _The eccentric girl turned around with startling speed, "That's it!" She turned back to the boy who was still sitting on the floor, "Come on, don't be such an introvert." She stretched her hand out to the boy, who was contemplating this sign of what could sprout into friendship. He looked at the two others behind her, the tall twi-lek sporting an unmovable grin on his face, while the elegant girl had a small, but noticeable smile._

 _After a few seconds, the boy reached his hand out, being pulled up with surprise by the girl's strength as he struggled to balance himself._

" _Atta boy, come, you're it!" The rest of the group ran off, leaving the boy with a challenging grin on his face as he started to count to 10._

 _The guardsman stood by, having sat down next to the boy for the duration of the memory. Good things do not last forever, however, as the scene changed._

 _His breathing stopped as he saw the corpses of both the eccentric and elegant girl on the floor, both now fully grown. Red hot lightsaber marks either going straight through their body or dotting their bodies. The tall twi-lek man, still tall as always, fell soon after. Life was present in his eyes as he stared at the hooded man slumped up against the wall, another smile shot out at him in his last moments before he went limp._

 _A figure in dark robes wrenched his red lightsaber out of the twi-lek man's chest, reveling in the glory of his kill. His gaze darted to the slumped up figure on the wall, watching him as he held his chest trying to nurse a deep lightsaber slash._ _The guardsman instinctively moved to defend the man, hand traveling to his weapon as he took a step, before something stopped him. He could not move any further to the bodies, Sith, or injured Jedi Knight as he felt a feeling of helplessness._

" _Three Jedi Knights, just out of training, am I correct?"_ _The figure walked towards the slowly dying Jedi Knight, lightsaber still ignited. Cocking his head at the Jedi Knight, who regarded him with nothing but hateful glares, he smiled._

" _Such rage, unbecoming of a Jedi Knight. Perhaps you would be better as a Sith."_

 _The Jedi Knight gave up his glares, instead gazing at the floor as he tried to hold in the waterfall of emotions that were burning in his head. He spared one more look at the Sith as he raised his red lightsaber, about to execute him._

" _However, I'm afraid that I can't take you in as my apprentice. My… apologies." Fake sincerity dotted his last words, causing the dying Jedi Knight to stare at him in contempt, before an explosion rung out in the facility that they were in. Looking to the side, the Sith deactivated his lightsaber as he was about to strike, holstering it on his hip as he stepped to the side._

" _Oh. Well, maybe we'll see each other another time. Farewell for now… friend." The Sith's attempts at enraging the wounded Jedi Knight were becoming more successful with each mention of his friends,_ _only making him want to exact revenge more,_ _however_ _the Sith_ _had already lept away by the time backup arrived._

 _A group of Jedi supplemented by clone troopers ran to the one sided battle that had just occurred, the Jedi immediately noticing that the Knight slumped up on the wall was still alive._

" _Medic, to me!" An old Jedi came to the Knight's side, using the force to keep him alive as he waited for a more dedicated healer._

" _Aye sir!" A clone unpacked his medikit, bacta injector going straight into the Knight's chest as he cried out in pain. He struggled to stay awake._

"-ir?"

" _What happened here, Knight?" Expecting eyes laced with sadness traveled to the slowly healing Knight, not noticing his slowly tiring state._

"-ir, can you hear me?"

The guardsman was brought out of his memory by a worried voice, his surroundings suddenly changing back to the guild house as he turned to see the girl behind the counter look at him, a mix of confusion and worry evident on her face.

"It's… nothing."

"Are you sure, sir? You didn't respond to me before."

"No, I'm fine."

His gaze traveled to the door, where the previous group of adventurers, now including the priestess, were exiting from. A feeling of alertness took the guardsman as his eyes widened for a second. Not again, he couldn't let what happened to him happen again, or to another person.

"I must go."

"But sir, you aren't regist-" The guild girl gave up yet again as the strange figure did not wait, sighing , but soon noticing that the man was following the group she had previously attempted to discourage from going on their goblin quest, realizing the true dangers of such a quest. A guardian angel, of sorts? Before she could think any further, a new group entered the building, headed straight for the counter.

The guild girl sighed, regaining her previous composure. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Erm, we do know where we're going, correct?" The priestess held her staff close to her body, worry evident as she followed behind the rest of the group.

The warrior fiddled with a map as he lead the group, confusion evident on his eyes as he looked back, "Uh, yeah! We head… this way!" Pointing towards an X on the map, which marked a cave labeled "Goblin Cave!"

"You do realize that doesn't help us, right?" The mage pointed out before continuing, "Are you even able to tell us where we are?"

"Of course I can! We're… we're… um..." Looking over the map, the warrior's nervous grin turned into one of despair as he sighed, folding the map back up.

Letting out a sigh, the wizard rubbed her eyes as she glared at the warrior, who shrunk back in fear, "We never should've trusted you with the map in the first place. Now we're lost."

"Oh, lighten up! I'm sure that if we look enough, we'll be able to find the cave no problem." The fighter clapped the mage on the back, which only served to anger her more as she spun around.

"Lighten up? How am I supposed to lighten up!? For all we know, this imbecile has gotten us lost in who knows where, while innocent people are being held captive by goblins!"

"Hey, calm down! All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be so negative all the time." Holding her hands up in defense, the fighter recoiled back a bit as she chuckled.

"Negative? What's that supposed to mean!?"

"She's right, you know..." Upon hearing this, the mage instantly spun around, staff going wide as the warrior ducked with a yell.

The priestess watched the group slowly descend into chaos, giggling at the events that were occurring, before realizing that they still had to save the people captured by the goblins. Before she could get the attention of the group, she heard a resounding snap behind her.

She turned around, staff at the ready as she prepared for a fight. Nothing was there, except for… a cave. It seemed that they weren't as lost as the warrior led them to believe. Sighing in relief, she turned to the rest of the group.

"E-excuse me? I think I found where we're supposed to be going..."

All eyes averted to the meek priestess as she turned and pointed to the cave that they missed. The wizard who previously had the warrior in a choke hold let go of the struggling boy as he gasped for air.

"I can't believe we missed that..."

"See, I told you that we'd find it! You've got a good eye, priestess."

"Thank yo-"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's sweep the floor with these goblins!" With that, the warrior did a 180 and started walking towards the cave with a restored energy. The fighter followed suit, mage cooling down with a groan before joining, not even bothering to look at the priestess as she walked past her.

Instinctively moving to follow the rest of the group, the priestess looked around. What caused that snap? It sounded like a twig to her, although she couldn't be too sure. Whatever it was, it directed her towards the cave, so maybe it was some sort of omen. A feeling of paranoia took the priestess as she started moving to join the rest of the group who were now infront of the cave entrance, she felt as if they were being watched.

Mentally scolding himself, the guardsman watched as the group moved towards the cave. He put too much priority into monitoring the group instead of his surroundings, which led him to step on a fallen tree branch. The snap was audible enough for the priestess in the back to hear, enabling her to find the cave that the guardsman hoped that they'd miss. Using the knowledge he'd gained from what little he'd heard while walking in the town and the feelings of the guild girl, this quest would most likely end in failure.

There was no going back now, but he pondered how he was going to fight in the cave if it came to exchanging blows. His lightsaber pike was too long, meaning that one wrong movement or misstep could cause him to hit a wall or ally, therefore leading to injury or even death. It was not a risk he was willing to take. Looking around, the guardsman pushed aside a feeling of alertness as he observed the area, seeing nothing nearby.

While he didn't doubt his abilities, and could push his heightened senses farther, the technique would cause him to burn out if used excessively, which is exactly what happened to him back on Coruscant. His arm felt better as he moved it around, aches still present but a wider range of motions were available. He'd have to make do with his body for now, feeling the force well up in his fists as he silently followed behind the naive group of adventurers.

Stopping in his tracks as he reached the cave entrance, he augmented his vision with the force, enabling him to see in the dark. He analyzed what he could see, before a sense of warning jolted his brain as his vision returned to normal, turning around as he reflexively prepared for a fight. His intentions were misplaced however, as a figure stood in front of him.

Another adventurer? Compared to the people he'd seen in the village, this man seemed much more pragmatic as he wore a metal helmet with vertical slits, one that bore broken horns on the sides and a torn plume on top. His armor wasn't as well polished either, scratch marks dotting the armor in almost every way, although it was maintained well enough for it not to rust or be on the brink of breakage. His choice of weapons were more suited towards the tight environment of the cave compared to the guardsman's, short sword and buckler on hand as he stared at the guardsman.

"Are you here to kill the goblins?" The figure spoke first, taking the guardsman out of his thoughts. He seemed almost impatient, as if he couldn't wait to exterminate the creatures inside of the cave. Some sort of mental trauma, or was the guardsman being misled? He didn't want to use any more of his power on seeing into the man's mind, whatever his situation was, he didn't want to keep the man waiting.

"Indeed. There is a group of adventurers in this cave, porcelain ranked. I fear for their safety."

Replying with a nod, the figure started forward into the cave with a hurried walk. Following after, the guardsman resumed his previous activity, enhancing his vision with the force to make sure that they wouldn't be taken by surprise. He kept his senses on alert as he scanned the cave that seemed to go deeper and deeper. The dulled sound of something striking and igniting to his side caught his attention, the figure having lit a wooden torch.

"Your eyes, they're glowing." He felt his vision dim until he could only see about halfway into the cave. While the typical trained force user could use a power like force healing to heal a minor wound on a whim, it generally required much attention in order to unlock higher calibers like healing internal organs, similar to other powers in the branch of Force Altering. Compared to Jedi Knights that were on the battlefield, the guardsman had spent much of his free time learning to delve deep into certain powers in order to unlock their full potential while subconsciously performing basic actions like moving. However, doing so required him to not be under immediate duress and such a task dulled his senses.

"I'm watching for hostiles. I will explain to you later if need be." He felt no need to explain to the man next to him, as he felt that he didn't really need to know. His rough analysis of the man didn't garner much, apart from the fact that he was very pragmatic and straight to the point. More-so focused on the task at hand, in this case being goblin slaying, instead of the quirks of those around him. The guardsman had no problem with that, however, and received another nod.

Now it was time for the guardsman to start asking questions, although he really only had one,"What is your name? So I can address you if need be."

"Goblin Slayer." Ah, that explained a lot.

"Your weapon, why not have it out?" They had made considerable ground so far, and nothing had alerted the guardsman's senses or eyes yet as he diligently scanned their surroundings. He was intrigued by the man's keen eyes though, his head didn't seem to turn once to look at him.

"It's not suited towards the confines of a cave, I'm afraid." Another nod, albeit slower and noticeably a bit confused came from the figure. Before the guardsman could continue, he noticed something move in the distance and immediately stopped, the man next to him doing the same as he saw the sudden change of movement in his accomplice.

A group of small creatures, dark green skin and crudely constructed loincloths armed with equally as crude weapons were on the move. Their backs were turned to the two, but upon being seen, one sniffed around. Did they notice their presence by smell alone? Perhaps the blazing light next to him was attracting their attention. His fists balled up as he felt the force flow into his body, vision dimming until he could barely see them from afar.

Making no move to put out his torch, the man instead started towards the group of creatures with clear intent to kill. It didn't take long for them to notice as they let off some screeches, the ones who didn't immediately notice coming to attention as they saw what was approaching. A few seconds of hesitation were present in their eyes before one charged, immediately getting kicked aside as the fight started. "One." The guardsman had no intention on standing by idly, using the force to propel himself forward as he slammed a goblin into a wall, feeling it's organs smush and ribs crack upon impact, before moving onto the next.

Looking at the effigy erected in front of the cave, the warrior thought a bit before looking back at the group, cocky grin on his face before he wordlessly headed in, the others except for the priestess following behind.

Gathering her courage as she stared at the effigy, she closed her eyes before pushing herself in. She wanted to help other people, and that was exactly what she was going to do. However, the feeling of being watched did not leave her as she walked in, only serving to unnerve the already scared girl even more.

Catching up with the group, she held her staff close as she openly voiced her worries, "Um… are you sure we should just barge in here so suddenly? Maybe we should go back and prepare some more..."

"Really? We've come this far, and you bring that up now?" The wizard looked at the priestess with narrowed eyes, though the priestess knew that she was mainly just annoyed.

Letting out a laugh, the warrior smiled at the priestess, "You worry too much. We'll be fine, goblins are as small as children and just as dumb as them too! They're the weakest monsters that you could encounter out here. I was even able to chase off some goblins that came to my village one time!"

"Suuch a great achievement, a real hero." A teasing grin plastered itself on the fighter's face, causing the warrior to make a less than amused face. He drew his longsword, holding it out to the side.

"Come on, I'm sure we'd be able to handle this, even if we ran into, like, a dragon!"

The mage looked nonplussed, "You're getting ahead of yourself, but we'll eventually get there."

"I'll be a dragon slayer one day!" The warrior swung his sword up, trying to act like a hero from the old fairy tales, only for his weapon to clash with the stalagmites in the cave, creating a resounding twang with sparks and throwing him off balance.

"Who-whoa!" Righting himself and not managing to fall the fighter elicited a laugh from the fighter as she walked over to the priestess, putting an arm on her shoulder.

"If Mister Hero over there can't cut all of them down, don't sweat. I'll beat them down with my bare fists." Her hands were gloved, but that's besides the point.

"Don't you worry, Miss Negative over there is actually graduate from the Sage's Academy over in the capital, can you believe it?"

Upon mention, the wizard turned and glared at both the priestess and the fighter, who each recoiled back in fear and sported a mischievous grin separately.

"Alright, enough talking, lets get on with the quest." Starting forward, the warrior led the way once again, having sheathed his sword after his embarrassing display of swordsmanship.

Starting forward once more, it didn't take long for the silence to be broken again, "Err, did any of you pack potions?"

"Nope! We didn't have enough money or the time to go shopping." The warrior's tone pointed towards him not really caring, overconfidence oozing from his every word as he led the party.

"I'm more worried about the girls who got kidnapped anyways. Besides, if we do get hurt you can heal us, right?"

"Well, I'm able to use the healing and light miracles, but... I can only use them three times a day..." Before the warrior could respond, something in front of them caught his eye, eliciting a confused gasp as he ran up to it, fighter following close behind.

"What the heck is this?" An effigy, similar to the one propped up at the entrance of the cave, was planted in the hard rock floor.

"It's similar to the one we saw before."

Adding to her already big list of fears and worries, the priestess closed her eyes and held her staff close, "O merciful Earth Mother, please provide us protection as we step into the darkness."

A pat to the back startled the priestess, causing her to gasp as her eyes bolted open. The mage was right behind her, ever present serious look in her eyes.

"We're falling behind, come, the other two are ahead of us."

"S-sorry." Starting to move, the priestess almost immediately came to a stop after a few steps. The sound of what could only be rocks moving or falling was heard.

"What is it now?"

"I think I just heard something..."

"Where from?"

"It came from behind us..." The priestess's voice trailed off as fear took her, eyes widening. The wizard didn't notice as she retorted.

"We just came straight from the entrance, if they were behind us we would've see-" Almost as if on cue, the pattering of feet made itself clear as an entourage of deviously laughing goblins exposed themselves to the pair, clubs and various weapons pattering on the ground.

"G-goblins!" Fear visibly took the wizard as she froze, the warrior and fighter up ahead hearing the commotion as they immediately backtracked.

The wizard's fear was quickly replaced with confidence and resolve as she stuttered out a firebolt spell, one that set a goblin that jumped at her aflame. "Sagita… Inflammare… Radius!"

Her attempts at casting another spell were cut short as a goblin grabbed at her thigh, successfully bringing her down as more piled on her, one breaking her staff as she struggled, although she managed to kick one in the face as she screamed. The priestess swung her staff around weakly, not doing much to dissuade the goblins assailing her friend as one unsheathed a knife in the sight of the held down wizard, who reacted with terror as it was stabbed into her, eliciting a scream of pain as she went limp. It didn't last long though, as the goblins were dispersed by the warrior and fighter who came running, the former swinging his sword around with a yell of rage, managing to kill a goblin and chasing off another.

Coming to the wizard's side, the fighter looked towards the priestess for help with a "Right here!", who was struggling to process the events that had just occurred in front of her, shaking as she nodded, sitting on the other side of the wounded wizard. The warrior was busy keeping the goblins at bay, some of them dodging his predictable but rage filled strikes as he yelled.

"Hurry, perform a healing miracle on her!"

"O-of course!" She stuck her hand out to the wound, a radiant light emanating as she said her prayers, "O merciful Earth Mother, please lay your revered hand upon this child's wounds! Heal!" With that, the light shined even brighter, mending the wizard's wounds within seconds. Upon confirmation, the fighter ran off to assist the warrior, who was swinging his sword around at the goblins with reckless abandon, almost beheading her as she approached.

"Quit swinging that thing around, I can't get close enough!" Her words fell on deaf ears as he still swung with anger and not precision, allowing the goblins to evade the blows with simple back steps.

"You protect the other two! I'll deal with the goblins!" He swung once more, dealing a vicious blow to a goblin as it's head and hand were cut apart, moving onto the nearest one with a charge, driving his sword deep into the goblin, who responded in kind with a dagger to the thigh. The warrior struggled to contain his cries of pain as he yanked his sword out of the still alive goblin, who gave him a wet grin as it slowly perished.

"You… YOU BASTARD!" Screaming in rage, he swung his sword down with both hands, ending the goblin's already faltering life immediately. Hearing another goblin approach from behind, he lifted his sword up and swung, "You're in MY WAY!" His swing did not travel, as his long sword clanged against the roof of the cave. Time seemed to slow for the warrior as his mishap was taken advantage of, goblins piling upon him as they stabbed and mauled him, his screams echoing throughout the cave as he died.

Watching in terror, the fighter saw her childhood friend die a painful death right in front of her. Behind her, the priestess reacted with confusion as she realized that the wizard wasn't rousing from her limp state.

"Wh-why? I used heal, but she isn't getting better..."

A determined and angered look arose on the fighter's face, "You two, run!"

Despite her scared and confused state, the priestess attempted to object, "But..." to no avail, as the fighter ran off to engage the goblins.

Staring at her friend's corpse, rage took her the same as the warrior, punching one straight in the chest that pounced at her with a knife and kicking two nearby goblins aside at once, knocking them into a wall and killing them. Feeling something behind her, she immediately performed a roundhouse kick, expecting to kill another goblin. Luck was not on her side, as it appears, because a hobgoblin that towered above her caught her foot mid kick. She was left to process this for a bit before being lifted up and slammed into a wall, and then another one, draining the remaining energy from her as she was dropped.

Struggling to get up, she watched as the group of goblins approached, devilish laughs arising as they beat her with their weapons to make sure that she wouldn't be able to resist, before tearing her clothes apart. Left naked, she was turnt over as one goblin took charge with glee, loincloth flipped up as it prepared to violate her.

Looking at the priestess once again, she looked almost broken as tears were on the verge of breaking out from her eyes, "R-run..."

Before the priestess could respond, something shifted in the cave. The sounds of combat that came from near the entrance became heard as goblins let out screeches of pain before being slashed or stabbed with their own weapons, and some being thrown or hit hard enough to knock them into view. One injured goblin started to float, screeching as it was lifted into the air, before it was thrown at high speeds at the group holding down the fighter. Making contact with the goblin about to defile her, the monster was knocked aside along with the other goblins as they were hit with their flying friend, letting the fighter fall limp to the floor.

The priestess stared in awe, but a sense of fear still dug at her in the back of her mind. Two figures were quickly making their way towards the goblins, two blue dots glowing bright on one side, while a red glow emanated from the other figure, leaving behind a faint glow of red as it moved. The blue eyed figure leapt out of the darkness with inhuman speed, punching the hobgoblin's hand as it moved to intercept him, expecting an outcome similar to the fighter. Unlike the fighter though, an audible crunch was heard as the hobgoblin let out a pained yell, retracting it's arm as his hand went limp.

Dressed in formal white robes and donning a strange mask, the figure seemed like some kind of monk, people that were renowned for their iron fists and blows strong enough to shatter bones, however that assumption was thrown away as the figure waved his hand as goblins circled him, causing the hobgoblin to be staggered while the smaller creatures flew into walls. He didn't stop there though, and followed up his bone shattering strike with two swift punches to the stomach, causing the hobgoblin to double over, leaving it open for a hefty grab of it's head to be smashed on the figure's knee, disfiguring it's face and knocking it unconscious.

Running out from the darkness, the figure bearing the gleaming red eye ran out from the darkness, weathered armor signifying a person with much experience. He threw his sword at a goblin in his way, successfully embedding it in his head as a gush of blood erupted from it's head. "Six." He took it's club and swung at two other goblins to the side, who were too caught off guard to react as they were both smashed into a wall, heads being turned into pulp as he discarded the club. "Eight." Blocking a goblin that attempted to pounce on him with a knife, confusion could be audibly heard from the goblin as it stabbed it's knife into the figure's neck, only to make contact with thick leather. Given no more chances, the goblin was quickly smashed into a wall and bashed in the head, cracking it's skull open and instantly killing it. "Nine."

In lieu of so many of their friends falling, the remaining small group of goblins retreated, the white-clad man moved for the naked fighter, whose tears openly flowed from her eyes as she was picked up and moved next to the unmoving wizard. The weathered figure stopped, looking at the wounded wizard and heading towards her, hand moving for a sheathed knife before he stopped to see what his accomplice was doing.

"Do not fret, young one. Stand by."

Taking his place next to the priestess, who moved aside, again struggling to process what happened, he placed his hands close to the wizard's color drained body. Shortly after, glowing white strings of white danced around her, slowly restoring her color, although her unconscious state remained unchanged.

"She was poisoned, I am working on purifying her body." The priestess blinked a few times, he didn't utter any prayers! Did he say them under his breath? No, she would've heard him, then how did he- no, is he even managing to heal her friend?

Noticing her confusion, the figure nodded at her, "Accompany the Goblin Slayer, I will take care of your friends."

"A-are you sure?"

"I am, your skills would be put to better use if you assisted him."

The priestess stood up, still shaken but more recovered from the experience. "Alright, I will..."

Turning to the slayer, the priestess was somewhat intimidated by his appearance, although she knew that he was on her side. He regarded her with an unreadable stare from behind that helmet of his before turning around and grabbing a nearby short sword from the corpse of a goblin.

"Let's go." He started off, causing the priestess to gasp as she quickly ran after him, "W-wait!"

The guardsman watched the priestess run off, such obvious naivety unsuitable for a situation like this. He looked at the fighter, who was now curled up in a fetal position against the wall, tears having stopped but an almost dead look in her eyes still present. Feeling a majority of the poison in the wizard's body be filtered away as color slowly returned to her skin, he slowly stopped healing her, deeming her to be in a stable enough condition before heading to the fighter.

"Young one, look at me." It took a second, but she looked at him.

Sighing, he realized that he had to use a skill that he didn't use ever since he became a Temple Guardsman. Taking her face with one hand, he channeled the force into his mind and hers, attempting to establish some kind of link.

"This won't hurt you, young one. Show me your mind."

As his senses slowly dulled, the guardsman could hear something akin to the screeching of pigs echo throughout the cave, coupled with the barely audible cries of a girl drowned out by the smashing of flesh and bone.

* * *

New aspirations! I've read over my story a lot of times so far, and I realize that this doesn't actually reach my expectations in terms of length. 3 to 4 thousand words ain't gonna cut it for me, I'm afraid. No more firing in spurts, this coconut gun is gonna burst. This may be a stretch, but further chapters are hopefully going to be hitting something around the 10 thousand word mark. I've combined my first 3 chapters into one, but formatting may be a bit weird, so bear with me. And no, your questions and my answers have not been tossed aside, it's just that I may have accidentally deleted them when I was working on hot gluing the three chapters I had out together. (Sorry!)

 **Guest:** Yeah, I won't be putting much character building into the two, they got enough in the manga. I won't be putting an insane amount of focus on the guardsman since I don't like it when a character gets dropped into a new world with cool abilities or toys, and suddenly becomes the center of attention for everything. That being said, he's going to get a lot of weird looks when he uses more mystifying powers in front of others, or when he decides it would be appropriate to use his lightsaber.

 **DragonBlade00:** That's true, but I think there would be quite the bit of resistance if you stuck your lightsaber straight into a cave wall.

Being honest, the warrior seemed like an ok kid, but I don't think there was any way I could've saved him there, he made a lot of stupid decisions. I felt that still including the rape of the fighter would be a bit dumb since someone with trained force powers should be able to stop such a thing from occurring if in range (Force Speed, Art of Movement, Force Push or Pull, etc.) With that, I'm not going to give the fighter the same outcome as in the anime, she'll probably be sent off on a better note, and the wizard will most likely be sent off somewhere else since the Force Detoxifying didn't get rid of all the poison in her body.

This may sound a bit childish, but the priestess seriously needs to stop pissing herself and succumbing to her fears, (Although it is understandable in some situations.), so I've decided to save her from the immense shame of spoiling herself. I'm not going to completely give her personality the boot though, she'll have her moments.

I'm not too big on filler, so I plan on writing out the rest of my character as the story goes on. To be honest, I never really thought out my character's exact quirks or even what he looks like, so that may be a part of the problem.

I sure hope he did. I don't actually know what the temple guardsman uniforms are made out of, but they still fill guard and sometimes combat roles, so I'm assuming there's protection and padding where it's needed. The face mask probably seals the deal for me, I don't want my character's face to get mauled or slashed to pieces like the warrior. Bandanas are cool and all, but they don't protect you from much.

 **SuperSaiyanDiclonius:** Ooh, now that's an interesting idea. Quite a few of the powers in the force relate to emotion, so I may try my hand at that. I doubt it would work though, since he's been working off unholy amounts of cold hatred for the goblins for most of his life now. Never hurts to try though, and maybe it'd speed up the process of him learning to feel more in the group and towards others.

 **Thaqif:** I can only do one of those sadly, but I'm picking the longer option.


End file.
